Exhaust aid device



May 31, 1966 c. WELLS 3,253,401

EXHAUST AID DEVI CE Filed June 8, 1964 INVENTOR CARTER WELLS ATTORNEY United States Patent Filed June 8, 1964, Ser. No. 373,241

4 Claims. (CI. 60-30) This invention relates to an improvement in an exhaust aid device of the type disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 328,069, filed December 4, 1963, for an Exhaust Aid Device, and particularly that portion of the disclosure in said application wherein air is admit-ted to the manifold of an internal combustion engine to afford more complete combustion of the exhaust gases prior to expulsion of the gases from the exhaust muffler.

This invention is particularly useful in combination with the exhaust manifold of heavy duty automobiles, such as trucks and buses.

It has been found that the air admitting device tends to become overheated by the exhaust gases and thereby causes the incoming air to be excessively heated and rarefied before entering the mufiler and thus retarding more complete combustion of the exhaust gases.

It is therefore the principle object of this invention to provide means within the exhaust aid device which tend to retard the entrance of exhaust gases into the device and to rarefy the exhaust gases as they progress toward the more remote end.

The foregoing and other objects will become more apparent as the description of the drawings proceeds, in which FIG. 1 is a sectional view in side elevation taken on a transverse plane coinciding with the axis of the unit which is shown mounted on a fragmentary portion of the exhaust manifold.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of one of the baffles mounted in the exhaust aid device.

FIG. 3 is asectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

The air injecting device comprises an elongated tubular member having a bore 11 extending from the lower externally threaded end 12 to the upper externally threaded end 13. This bore is divided into four parts 14, 15, 16 and 17, the portion 14 of the bore 11 being within the upper threaded end of the member 10 and adapted to receive a flutter valve unit 18 carried by the mounting plate 19 resting on the shoulder 20 and preferably in push fit engagement with the surrounding wall of the bore portion 14. The reduced portion 15 of the bore connects the bore porton 14 with the bore portion 16 and the lower bore portion 17, which is adapted to receive the inverted bafile cups 21 in push fit engagement, provides, with the bore portion 16, an annular shoulder 22 which defines the position of the cups 21 in the bore 11, the side of each cup serving as means spacing adjacent baffle plates relative to each other to provide an air turbulence space within said tube.

As indicated, the bottom 23 of each baflle cup in effect comprises a bafile plate disposed diametrically of the tube 10 and is provided with an aperture 24, the diameter of which is preferably about one-quarter of an inch in diameter. The diameter of the apertures may be varied to meet any requirement of the user. It will be noted from FIG. 1 that the aperture hole 24 in the bottom 23 of each cup 21 is positioned 180 from the position of the hole 24 in an adjacent cup, thus gases passing through the holes or apertures 24 from one end of the member 10 to the other will be caused to become turbulent between each cup and prevented from forming a direct unobstructed stream through the member 10.

As in my aforesaid application the lower end 12 of the member 10 is threaded into the wall 25 of the exhaust manifold 26 and extends a relatively short distance into the passageway 26A.

It may be noted that it is important to make the flutter valve disc 27 of a material which will effectively resist deterioration under the temperature induced by the hot exhaust gases which may reach the area of the valve. One such material is manufactured and sold by a well known manufacturer under the trade name of Teflon.

FIG. 1 suggests that five bafile cups 21 may be inserted in the tubular portion 17. It will, however, be understood that any number of cups, from one to five, may be placed in the tubular portion 17 depending upon the preference of the user. However, it has been found that a maximum of five cups obtains the best results under the most adverse conditions.

It has been found that the temperature differential between the ends 12 and 13 of the member drops as much as 350 lower at the end 13 than that found at the end 12, thus minimizing the possible damage to flutter valve 27 and increasing the effectiveness of the air entering the exhaust manifold through member 10 in combination with the partially burned exhaust gases.

As disclosed in my aforesaid copending application, the annular ribs 28 on the member 10 aid in dissipating the heat absorbed by the tube and thus aid in maintaining the device at a relatively high efiiciency throughout its life.

In operation the device responds to varying pressures in the exhaust manifold as follows: Immediately after expulsion of gases from an engine cylinder (not shown), the pressure in the manifold tends to rise and some of the burned gases enter the member 10 but the progress of the gases is retarded and further limited by closure of the flutter valve 27. Then immediately after this rise in pressure, the pressure decreases to a point below ambient pressure and fresh air is drawn past the flutter valve 27 and baflle cups 21 to mix with the hot gases and further reduce the carbon monoxide content of the gases.

The upper threaded end 13 is threadedly engaged by the capping end 29 of the removable air filtering unit 30 (details not shown). The filtering unit, of course, filters air as it enters the member 10 and thereby prevents foreign mater from passing through the member 10.

From the foregoing it will be obvious that I have provided a novel combination in which the air injecting device effectively prevents overheating by exhaust gases and thus insures a freer flow of air into the exhaust manifold and more complete combustion of the exhaust gases and a consequent lowering of the carbon monoxide content of the exhaust gases to a permissible minimum.

The following claims set forth the novel combination for which I desire to secure the exclusive rights:

1. An air injector for an internal combustion engine exhaust manifold, said injector comprising a tube having its opposite ends threaded, in combination with a series of baflle plates disposed in spaced relation in said tube, each of said plates in a plane extending substantially diametrically of said tube and each of said plates having an aperture disposed on a side of the axis of said tube opposite that of the aperture in an adjacent baffie plate, each bafile plate spaced from an adjacent baffle plate to provide an air turbulating space.

2. An air injector for an internal combustion engine exhaust manifold, said injector comprising a tube having its opposite ends threaded, in combination with a plurality of an inverted cup-like baflies secured in sequence in said tube, the bottom of each cup being apertured on a side of the axis of said tube and the aperture in each bottom being disposed substantially 180 opposite that of the aperture in an adjacent bottom, the bottoms of adjacent bafiies being spaced from each other by the wall of said cup-like bafiles to provide an air turbulating space.

3. An air injector for an exhaust manifold of an internal combustion engine, said injector comprising a tube having its opposite ends threaded and provided with relatively spaced bafile means interiorly of said tube, said bafile means interrupting the direct flow of gases through said tube and creating an air turbulence at predetermined areas in said tube.

4. The air injector recited in claim 3 wherein the tube is provided with a plurality of relatively spaced annular cooling fins on its outer periphery integral therewith.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Oberg 13838 Ramsaur 13838 Flint 6030 X Flint 6030 Flint 60-30 Iager 13842 Young 13838 SAMUEL LEVINE, Primary Examiner.

A. S. ROSEN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN AIR INJECTOR FOR AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE EXHAUST MANIFOLD, SAID INJECTOR COMPRISING A TUBE HAVING ITS OPPOSITE ENDS THREADED, IN COMBINATION WITH A SERIES OF BAFFLE PLATES DISPOSED IN SPACED RELATION IN SAID TUBE, EACH OF SAID PLATES IN A PLANE EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLY DIAMETRICALLY OF SAID TUBE AND EACH OF SAID PLATES HAVING AN APERTURE DISPOSED ON A SIDE OF THE AXIS OF SAID TUBE OPPOSITE THAT OF THE APERTURE IN AN ADJACENT BAFFLE PLATE, EACH BAFFLE PLATE SPACED FROM AN ADJACENT BAFFLE PLATE TO PROVIDE AN AIR TURBULATING SPACE. 